Some progress...

Been working some more on the LRDG project. The paint conundrum is not yet solved, but there might be some hope on the horizon. There are two possible solutions, of which the first is easiest, but might not work.

I have recently ordered Coat d'Arms' British WW2 Paint Set, along with a set of Plastic Soldier Company's british figures. I ordered it about a month ago, but my order has been delayed as some other items were out of stock. Maelstrom Games have now split the order and I'm hoping to get the figures and the paint set soon. By coincidence, the paint set contains a colour named "Desert Yellow".  Coat d'Arms wasn't listed in the Vallejo conversion charts, so there is a chance that it will match, and if so your Mom's brother is called Robert.


The other solution is a bit trickier but less reliant on luck. Jocke sent me a printed colour chart for Vallejo, so I can try and mix my own Desert Yellow paint. Harder, but it should be possible to at least get a decent match.


Meanwhile I have been busy painting and building. Some WIP shots behind the break:

The crew figures prepped for painting.

Basecoated and washed with Devland Mud.

Painting in progress.

As you can see, the SHQ figures are quite a good match with the figures included in the kit, both style-wise and size-wise. The kit figures had not very detailed faces however. I don't know if that is because of the age of the moulds, or a fault of the original sculpting. Probably a combination of both.

The figures were basecoated with GW Khemri Brown, followed with a wash of Devlan Mud to add shading. Clothes which looked like they were part of standard british battle dress were given a highlight with Vallejo Khaki. Some other clothes recieved a highlight of Vallejo Dark Sand, followed by Vallejo Light Sand. To break up the uniform look I'm thinking of doing some items in faded green.

I added a box and a drum of wire -- detonation cord perhaps -- to the base.

This guy looks like he could be somewhere in Europe by the looks of the uniform.

The standing gunner followed the same paint scheme as the rest of the figures. I'm not sure what colour the beret should be though, I'm thinking black but still wavering. Maroon would be more striking but probably not correct.

Final details added, and some extra stowage from SHQ.

The stowage on the gunner's base effectively blend it in with the rest of the stowage.

I decided to use the sacks and some jerry cans after all, to fill out the back of the Chevy. I did not use the large oil drum however. Some extra stowage from SHQ fit nicely along the sides, to better match the appearance of the Ford truck. I've been told that british tank crews would pack an "escape pack" with rations and water on the outside of their vehicle. That way, if they had to abandon the tank they could quickly grab a pack each and be able to survive in the desert until they were picked up by someone. I imagine LRDG would do the same, so in addition to the blanket rolls I added some backpacks and water bottles.

The jeep finished, with stowage.

The stowage on the jeep is removable. Note the Tommy Gun.

The Jeep kit already already had a couple of backpacks mounted on the sides. I used the jerry cans and wooden boxes included in the kit as well, but tarted it up a bit more with some blanket rolls and a water bottle on the sides. I didn't use the jerry cans on the hood of the car, since I figured it would be a daft place to carry fuel. It got replaced with a larger roll of tarpaulin. I then added more blankets along with a Thompson submachine gun and a pistol holster on the boxes. I made the stowage in the back removable in case I later on decide to mount another gun in the jeep anyway.